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New Orleans' population swells and shrinks with trade patterns and parties, and getting an accurate headcount of permanent residents is nearly impossible. On any given day, New Orleans could have anywhere from 575,000-625,000 residents.

Average temperatures range from 43 °F (6 °C) in the winter to 91°F (32 °C) in the summer, with occasional highs into the 100s and rare dips below freezing. The humidity is tolerable at best, even during its relatively dry fall seasons, and turns oppressive during the summer.

Average annual precipitation is about 64 inches (162 cm). The city is susceptible to tropical storms and hurricanes between June and October, as well as violent thunderstorms and tornadoes year-round.

The below-sea-level city is nearly surrounded by water, located between the Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain and cross-cut by levee-protected canals. Its proximity to the river and lake, as well as the Intracoastal Canal, makes it a dominant port for seabound goods arriving from and going through the Gulf of Atzlan and Caribbean Sea (locally known as the Gulf of Mexico). The Mississippi River delta cuts through the marshlands south of the city.

The city is accessible by road via CAS Interstates 10, 55 and 59, and UCAS/CAS Highway 61. New Orleans has an international airport, but no suborbital services.

The city is a focal point for music and art, and remains a tourist draw. Mardi Gras is an annual weeks-long party of raucous debauchery, but most of that atmosphere continues year-round in the French Quarter. There's also an active underground pit-fighting circuit.

New Orleans has its own unique dialect that's neither southern English nor French, the city's two dominant languages. Often known as the "Yat dialect", after the locals' common greeting of "Where y'at?", it's most closely related to the English spoken in New York's Brooklyn borough. Irish, Italian, German, French, Yiddish and Polish are all heavy influences from the city's days as an immigration port.

Metahumans, and particularly orks, are generally considered unwelcome in the heart of the city. Nearly half of the city's metas are orks, which the city government considers a threat to tourism.

The city and the area surrounding it are also infamously thick with spirits, urban and natural.

New Orleans has been a smugglers' haven for centuries, thanks to the Mississippi River delta and the maze of swamps and bayous that cross the landscape. In the Sixth World, New Orleans acts as a hub for illicitly transferred goods from the Carib League and Atzlan moving north, and from the Native American Nations, CAS and United Canadian and American States heading south. Lax enforcement from local and national authorities since the CAS secession has helped turn the city into a booming shadow market. Rogue CIA agent Mary Jo Doonan is among the most infamous smugglers rumored to call New Orleans home.

The Seattle-St. Louis-New Orleans routes are some of the highest-traffic land routes for smuggling in North America.

New Orleans is a point of origin and entry for both tempo and the raw materials used to make it. Known tempo producers who use ingredients sourced from New Orleans include "Muppet" Daley of Gary, Indiana.

The Crescent City Mafia, led by Miriam Kozlowski, dominates organized crime in the city. Gambling and prostitution are legal and mostly controlled by the Mafia, though with some competition from the yakuza.

The CAS clamped down on corpse reanimation in the early 2060s. That, coupled with wars erupting between the krewes, dampened smuggling activity in the city, with some smugglers shifting operations to Gulfport, Mississippi.

Petrochemical and biotech businesses dominate the more legitimate corporate landscape, thanks to the abundant natural resources of the Gulf Coast. New Orleans also has a vibrant entertainment scene and market, including local recording label Blue Dog Tunes and scouts from the sector's megacorps; the city's diverse architecture has made it a longtime favorite location for film and trideo producers. Tourists flock to the city's culinary scene, as well.

New Orleans is one of the few cities that privatized its municipal police department rather than contracting to a third party, such as Lone Star or Knight Errant. The city is the only client of the resulting New Orleans Police Services, Inc., which has a reputation for reserving its meager resources for its highest-paying patrons.